June 08, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 03, 1429

KARACHI, June 7: The CFS (continuous funding system) investment on the Karachi Stock Exchange last week showed a modest increase of 3.17 per cent or Rs993.8 million at Rs32.32 billion as demand for fresh credit lines remained on the higher side in line with share market rally.

Owing to last couple of weeks’ massive plunge on the share market and higher CFS rates, demand for funds had fallen to a new low of Rs30 billion plus from the previous weekly average of Rs52 billion.

The average CFS rates on the other hand, though are still ruling high, posted a decline of 194 basis points at 15.76 per cent as compared to a week earlier, analyst Saad Arshad said.

He said bulk of the CFS investment was shared by the five top companies under the lead of National Bank, Pakistan Oilfields, Arif Habib Securities, D G Khan Cement and Pakistan Petroleum.

Open interest on the futures counter for the current month rose by 26.2 per cent on weekly basis and it stood at Rs14.19 billion but on the other hand, future spreads suffered a sharp fall of 701 basis points ending the week at 7.39 per cent.